ANZ Steers Clear of Conventional Coal-Fired Power

Australian bank ANZ will not finance any new conventional coal-fired power plants, with it only considering funding such infrastructure if it uses advanced technology and higher quality thermal coal to cut emissions.

The bank will also strengthen its processes to govern its lending to coal mining, transportation and power generation, ANZ said in its climate change statement. Australia is the world's second-largest exporter of thermal coal, while about 75pc of domestic electricity is generated from coal-fired power plants.

ANZ supports the goal for the end-November Cop 21 meeting in Paris by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to limit the average global temperature to no more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels. The bank will fund at least A$10bn ($7bn) by 2020 to support its customers to transition to a low carbon economy, including increased energy efficiency in industry, low emissions transport, environmentally-friendly buildings, reforestation, renewable energy and battery storage and emerging technologies such as carbon capture and storage, it said.

ANZ becomes the second bank this month to announce tighter conditions on lending to the coal industry. US bank Citigroup said it plans to further reduce its credit exposure to coal mining companies after reducing its exposure to the sector since 2011.